5 Best Contact Form Plugins for WordPress Compared In Detail

There are a ton of contact form plugins out there. A cursory search of the WordPress.org plugin directory turns up a straight up silly 3,000+ results (though some of that is the plugin directory’s “creative” search algorithm). All that to say, it’s not easy to narrow down to the best contact form plugin.

But
that’s what I’m trying to do in this post. I took all those hundreds
and thousands of contact form plugins and narrowed them down to just
five options.

After personally using a ton of different form plugins, including each of the five plugins on this
list, I feel confident in saying that none of these plugins will lead
you astray.

But, choosing between five different plugins
still isn’t an easy choice! So I’m going to go in-depth with each plugin
so that you can pick the perfect one for you.

Summary: Best Contact Form Plugins for WordPress

Don’t worry – I’ll be digging into every single plugin in greater detail in the following sections. But first, here’s a quick bird’s eye view so you can prepare yourself for what’s coming.

1. Ninja Forms

Overview

Ninja
Forms is one of the most popular contact form plugins out there, which
doesn’t surprise me given that I think it has the nicest interface out
of any plugin on this list.

It comes as a free core plugin (listed
at WordPress.org) with over 33+ paid add-ons. The free core version is
great if you just need basic contact forms. But if you want advanced
forms to handle email opt-ins, payment gateways, and more – you’ll need
some of the premium add-ons.

Ninja Forms Core Features

Drag and drop, user friendly interface

View form submissions in dashboard AND get notification emails

Run calculations on form fields

Sanitize form inputs and force formatting

Templates to help you quickly create forms

Email marketing integrations (paid)

Payment gateway integrations (paid)

Conditional logic and multi-page forms (paid)

Zapier integration (paid)

Ninja Forms Pros

Has the nicest interface of any contact form plugin

Can run multi-part calculations on form fields

Option to send form confirmation emails to the submitter

Has a paid add-on for pretty much anything you want to do

Ninja Forms Cons

Ninja Forms can quickly get expensive depending on the specific add-ons that you need

How Does It Work?

You can
install the free version from WordPress.org and quickly start creating
forms with the user-friendly drag and drop editor. Then, you can insert
forms wherever you need with shortcodes.

Pricing

The core version of Ninja Forms is free and listed at WordPress.org.
The paid add-ons, of which there are over 33, range in price from ~$19
to $49. They also have a few bundles to save you a bit of money.

2. Gravity Forms

Overview

Gravity
Forms is one of the most popular form plugins for developers (and
subsequently, their clients). It’s popular because, in addition to a
solid feature list, it’s easily extensible.

With that being said,
Gravity Forms is pricey and lacks a free version. So if all you need is a
simple contact form, there are much better options. If you need complex
forms, though, Gravity Forms is an industry standard.

Gravity Forms Core Features

Helpful restrictions like scheduled dates, submission limits, and more

Vibrant developer community built around Gravity Forms

Multi-page forms and conditional logic

Front-end post creation

Zapier integration

Gravity Forms Pros

Because of its popularity, Gravity Forms has a ton of help third-party integrations that other form plugins don’t have

The full feature list makes it very flexible – you can build pretty much any type of form with Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms Cons

There’s no free version of Gravity Forms

The interface feels a bit dated when compared to plugins like Ninja Forms and WPForms

If you need payment processing, Gravity Forms is quite expensive. The cheapest version with payments is $199

How Does It Work?

You
can build your forms using Gravity Forms’ drag and drop form builder.
Then, you insert them on the front-end using shortcodes.

Pricing

Gravity
Forms comes in three different versions – Personal ($39), Business
($99), and Developer ($199). Each version adds additional features – so
make sure you pick the version offering the features you actually need.

3. Caldera Forms

Overview

Caldera
Forms has, hands down, the most flexible free version that you’ll come
across. For instance, you can create conditional logic and multi-page
forms even in the free version, which no other contact form plugin allows to my knowledge.

It
originally operated as a free core version with paid add-ons, much like
Ninja Forms. But the developers recently launched an added Pro version
which deals with the emails that go along with your forms.

Pricing

4. Contact Form 7

Overview

Contact
Form 7 is a staple in the WordPress form niche. While it’s not the most
beginner friendly form builder, it’s simple and lightweight. Oh, and it
also has over 3 million active installs, which is tough to argue with.

If
you just need a basic contact form, it’s a solid lightweight option
that won’t slow down your site. Just don’t expect a drag and drop form
builder or easy styling. Third-party plugins do give you the option of
tacking on plenty of functionality, though.

Contact Form 7 Core Features

Lightweight

AJAX form submissions

CAPTCHA and Akismet for spam

Email notifications on form submission

Contact Form 7 Pros

Because it’s so popular, many themes have pre-built styling for Contact Form 7

Yes, you will notice a number of similarities in pricing and extensibility. But there’s enough different to make WPForms worthy of its own entry.

WPForms Core Features

A well-designed interface that’s second only to Ninja Forms (in my opinion)

Drag and drop form builder

Conditional logic (pro)

Payment gateway and email marketing service integrations (pro)

Unique Form Abandonment add-on

Zapier integration

WPForms Pros

The interface is beginner friendly and easy to use

Has a free version for basic contact forms

The Form Abandonment add-on is a unique feature I haven’t seen in other form plugins

Hs a lifetime plan, which Gravity Forms doesn’t offer

WPForms Cons

WPForms can be expensive depending on which features you need.

Despite its similarities to Gravity Forms, WPForms lacks the third-party developer support of Gravity Forms

How Does It Work?

Like
most of the other plugins, you build your forms using a drag and drop
editor and then insert them on the front-end using shortcodes.

Pricing

WPForms has a free version at WordPress.org that’s capable of creating basic contact forms. After that, you’ll need
the Pro versions which start at $39 and range up to $199. The pricing is pretty much identical to Gravity Forms.

The only difference is that WPForms also offers a lifetime plan that costs a hefty $499.

If you just want to create basic contact forms, I think Ninja Forms has the best free version to help you accomplish that.

If
you want the most feature-rich and functional free form plugin, Caldera
Forms is the definite winner. The fact that it offers conditional
logic, multi-page forms, and front-end post submissions all in the free version is tough to beat.

And
if you want the absolute most flexible form plugins, you really should
just pick your favorite between Ninja Forms’ add-ons, Caldera Forms’
add-ons, Gravity Forms, and WPForms. All are flexible in their own ways –
it just depends on your specific needs.

And yes – I know I left off some quality options like Jetpack Forms. There really are too many to choose from!

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The editorial team watches over all the content that gets published on the MachoThemes blog. You can get in touch with us via our contact form. This author box is generated using Simple Author Box plugin, available for FREE on WordPress.org.

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